Offline Redemptions
Offline is a state where the store level applications such as, point of sale and promotion engine are disconnected from cloud enterprise services.
Note: Promotion Engine is a loyalty application that evaluates the basket received from the POS and applies relevant offers to it.
During online operations, promotions that are created and managed at the enterprise level are synced to the store level. Any changes made to promotions at the enterprise level are automatically reflected at the store level.
When the store is offline, promotions do not sync from the enterprise to the store. If any transaction occurs at the store level that requires validation or data from enterprise services, such as consumer eligibility, segments, loyalty points, store values, or other loyalty information, these details cannot be fetched due to the loss of connection to the enterprise services.
Bypassing Consumer Conditions
When offline, for promotions targeting cardholders and consumer segments, since engine is disconnected with the enterprise, it is unable to validate if the consumer scanned in the transaction is active and identify the consumer segments they belong to. By checking the flag 'Allow any cardholder to redeem the reward when the store is offline' to true for any promotion, the consumer conditions are bypassed, making the consumer eligible for the reward. However, any-customer offers are always applicable offline, as they do not require validation from the enterprise.
The following table shows the differences in applying promotions for offline redemptions when the store is offline compared to when it is online:
Customer Types | Store Online with Flag Set to True | Store Offline with Flag Set to True | Store Online with Flag Set to False | Store Offline with Flag Set to False |
---|---|---|---|---|
Any-Customers | Offer applies | Offer applies | Offer applies | Offer applies |
Any-Cardholders | Offer applies | Offer applies | Offer applies | Offers does not apply |
Consumer Segments | Offer applies | Offer applies | Offer applies | Offers does not apply |
Note: The flag bypasses only the consumer condition; all other conditions must still be satisfied to receive the reward.
Offers Excluded from Offline Redemptions
In addition to consumer conditions, the promotions may include other validations from the enterprise services, such as checking the consumer's points balance or whether they have reached promotion limits.
Following is the list of promotions that are excluded from offline evaluation:
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Stored values and points.
The engine cannot validate if the consumer has sufficient points or stored values.
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Loyalty program balance redemption.
The engine cannot validate if the consumer has sufficient balance for redemptions.
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If the customer needs to reach certain accumulations, the engine cannot retrieve up-to-date accumulation data from the enterprise due to the lost connection.
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The engine cannot validate whether the customer qualifies for an instant win reward. Instant win counters will not be incremented at stores that are offline.
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The engine cannot connect to the enterprise to validate the expiration dates and usage limits set for the coupons.
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The engine cannot connect to the enterprise to validate the customer's remaining promotion limits.
Offers Redeemable during Offline
Following is the list of promotions that can be redeemed during offline:
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'Any customers' offers.
For promotions that target all consumers and are already available at the store level, no validation from the enterprise is required.
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Offers targeted for specific 'Consumer Segments' or 'Any Cardholders'.
Promotions that have already been synced from the enterprise are available during offline transactions.
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The trigger code data is available at the store level, enabling promotions to be applied during offline transactions.
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Promotions requiring customer approvals.
Giving customers an option to decide to redeem an offer during the transaction.
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All discount rewards except loyalty redemption.
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Points and stored value accumulations.
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Cashier message and printed message.
Loyalty data in cashier and printed messages will not appear.
Offer Replays
During offline, transactions are recorded at the store level. Once services are restored, the recorded transactions are processed against the latest promotions.
When a customer earns loyalty balance (points or stored values) during an offline transaction, the loyalty balance will be added to the customer's loyalty program through offer replays.